Beyond the Paper House
by Walks With Starzz
Summary: He still watches her exclusively. But with one minor difference, instead of the hunter, he has turned into the hunted. It is up to the one he loved and tormented to save him from a fate worse than death. A new Game... PLEEZ R
1. Default Chapter

Prologue  
  
Artificial sunlight smothered the darkness on the computer screen as a form was apparently withering in dire pain as flames engulfed his famished body. Though his physical being was in desperate agony, his mind suffered far worse, for just beyond the glass stood before him the reason he was trapped in this game to be tortured for eternity.  
  
Papers scatter the floor, but are gathered hastily by an eighteen- year-old girl. Jenny had always been ware of her surroundings, but lately her nerves are on constant alert, and as far as her mind knew, nowhere was safe.  
She glanced up to see what sound had frightened her, only to be staring into a computer screen.  
"What are you doing to him?" Jenny asked, perplexed as a man before her was burning to an unjust death.  
"Playing the Sims..." Joey replied with a slight, evil grin emerging on his small face. Jenny loved her 8 year old brother, but was worrying about his violence level from these games, which seemed to be increasing over the past half year. She gazed into the face of the character, who oddly seemed to be looking back jsut as an unexplainable surge of familiarity came and went from her moments before he collasped to the ground, now merely a pile of ashes.  
She blinked, confused, but let the feeling pass and laid down the papers as Joey went to make a new victim to torture. Jenny just peered at the computer warily until something made her stomach drop. The new man Joey was producing was a handsome blonde wearing black leather. This may not seem peculiar, but what was was the name Joey was typing in, which read Julian.  
  
AN: DUN DUN DUN! pleez PLEEZ write reviews, this is my first story and im trying my hardest. so write reviews or you will suffer the dire consequences of the SAUCY TIKI! : ) don't ask...anyway read not just another fairy tale, REALLY good story made by one feather. i helped inspire the story line, so if you like this you should like that too. 


	2. Chapter 1

The phone rang adruptly at Jenny's elbow. For the first time in months Jenny didn't seem alarmed by the sudden burst of noise, for her mind was still upon the single name written in the computer screen.  
Jenny picked up the phone, still in a daze until a familiar voice rang in her ear.  
"3 words...my place, doritos." Dee's assertive voice demanded.  
"I dunno," Jenny started, but was cut off.  
"You've practically trapped yourself in your house since..." her voice trailed off. "Well, I rented out some movies." She finished in a hopeful tone.  
"I'm not trapped, I'm...I'm..." She couldn't finish. The truth hit her and she spoke again. "When should I come over?"  
  
Chips and some good movies would take anyone's mind off of other issues in their screwed up world, and Jenny's mind was weary of the same subject which has haunted her feeble mind for countless days.  
She relaxed with a bag of the cheesey morsals and a glass of sparkeling cider and was thankful to have such friends. To her right sprawled Dee, a well built and beautiful dark skinned girl who now had 2 bags of chips and a bottle of cider to herself. Next to her sat Audrey and Michael, and odd couple. One was dressed to perfection with flawless auburn hair and untouchable nails. The other was short and a bit chubby, but held an amusing and lovable personality. Tom of course was at her other side, gently stroking her hand as he payed absolutely no attention to the TV, but rather took to staring intently at her face. The only other two that aren't here are Summer and Zach, as far as the group was informed, they were off on a date somewhere. This wasn't too much of a surprise, since they were practically inseperable lately.  
It didn't bother anyone too much that Zach wasn't there. When they'd watch movies, he'd dedicate his time to finding flaws in the art and graphics of the movie and state them loudly. Summer, somehow doesn't mind it.  
Happy to have different things on her mind other than the usual, she watched the movie, occasionally leaning against Tom for comfort. Everything was the best it's been since...that time, Jenny thought just as the credits rolled onto the screen. She stared blankly at it, leaning into Tom's embrace until one the names caught her eye. As the name moved up the screen, that same name went by, but with a different last name, then another. Jenny didn't know Julian was such common of a name.  
That old feeling of forboding came rushing back to her as another Julian appeared there.  
The phone rang in the kitchen and Jenny lept in fright.  
"Hey, Thorny...it's okay." Tom whispered in a soothing voice as he held her close, calming her as Dee sprinted towards the phone.  
"It's for you, sunshine." She said, holding the phone out to her.  
Jenny held the phone to her ear and Joey's voice spilled out.  
"Jenny, I need you here...now." His voice demanded, but not quite like himself.  
"Joey? What happened?" Jenny asked with desperate concern.  
"Just get over her." He said just before Jenny heard a pop in her ear as he disconnected from the line.  
  
AN It gets better later...im trying!!! anyway, pleeeez review.........I LOVE ANIMAL CRACKERS!.....hehe 


	3. Chapter 2

"You made me rush over here, in fear for your life, to fix a COMPUTER?!" Jenny inquired upon her younger brother in rage.  
"And you think this ins't an emergency?" Joey spat back.  
"Couldn't you have just waited or done something else? You really scared me when you didn't tell me much."  
"But the screen won't move and I have to play my game." Joey replied, frustrated.  
"Fine, I'll fix it!" Jenny gave in. "Just go to your room!" She belted uncharacteristicly. She wasn't quite sure where that had come from and felt even more confused when Joey obeyed willingly.  
Jenny sat in the chair and closed her eyes for a moment, regaining what little control she had left. Next she opened them she found herself staring into the face of the computer, peering into yet another sceen of torment and torture.  
It was still the same Julian from before, but now he was drowing to death, caught in a stillframe of him just below the water's surface, and helpless hand reaching above the water for a rescue that would never come.  
Jenny felt a chill run through her as she scanned the graveyard of all about 50 stones, all of which read the same name.  
She took a deep breath and tried to exit the program...nothing. She tried the restart button...nope. Shut it down...why won't this work? Becoming frustrated she tugged on the wire going to the outlet and felt a horrible sensation when the computer remained running, only now the screen was moving, showing the character thrash and kick in the water of a large pool.  
Jenny heard herself scream as she called for Joey, only to find no response. She lept up to call Dee,  
  
Tom...anyone. She punched in the numbers and just as Dee picked up the phone, the Julian on the screen dissapeared from view under the water and his screaming stopped abruptly.  
Silence filled the room until Dee's voice sounded.  
"What's up?"  
Jenny stared at the spot Julian had dissapeared in silence.  
"Hello?"  
"Yeah, it's Jenny. Look...um..." She trailed off. What just happened, was it her mind? Had she just over-reacted?  
"Jenny! What happened? You just left so suddenly...you okay?"  
"Yeah, everything's fine, I'm just calling to let you know." The fib rolled out of her before she had time to properly think.  
"Oh good, Tom was frantic thinking something happened.  
"Well everything's fine, thanks." She repeated. "Bye."  
"See ya." Dee said, hanging up the phone and leaving Jenny in utter quietness.  
"Maybe I just over-reacted. Maybe the computer has a back up system or something." Jenny murmered to herself, unconvincingly.  
She reached to try the escape key again and everything went black. 


	4. Chapter 3

chapter #3  
  
Darkness still surrounds Jenny when she emerges from unconsciousness, swallowing her into the depths of an eternity of the unknown. She feels the ground beneath her, but also hears the light sounds of still water close by.  
Taking a deep breath, Jenny gets steadily to her feet and tries to recognize something, anything that may tell her where she is. As she listens, all she con conclude is that she is outdoors by some body of water.  
Severe shaking controls her body as another all too familiar sensation comes back to her. The feeling she would wake by for years, and find that someone was watching her from the depth of the shadows.  
"God, where am I?" Jenny murmured aloud, not to be answered, but rather to listen to something other than the water, though an answer did come, but not by words.  
A shimmer of blue shown vibrantly against the black mass. It glittered boldly for a moment, flickered, and went out. Another light, though now light brown, gleamed to her right, then another. Space was hard to tell when there was nothing to compare to, but they did seem to be getting steadily closer.  
Jenny took a small step back to find her foot dangerously close to the edge of a sort of platform she was standing on. She let out a small shriek as another light went on close by, but then to her horror she realized these were instead eyes, the cruel, hungry eyes she knew from years past. The eyes in the closet of her nightmare, in the deapths of the shadows, but now in the darkness around her.  
Her breathing quickened as she desperately dropped to her knees, feeling the ground beneath her. Her hand closes upon a smooth, cool rail just as a new pair of green, malicious eyes appear a mere foot or two from her face. She leapt back in fright, the rail forgotten as she scoots to the edge of the platform, not daring to blink.  
The closest one was now only about five inches away from her face, then they all stopped moving, just staying suspended in air, watching her intently with a magnitude of hunger.  
Jenny simply sat paralyzed, staring aged of her into a fathomless unknown until one pair of luminous eyes went out, then another.  
Soon Jenny was apparently alone, her pulse now slowing she sat, unsure of what to do next. But then her breath caught in her throat as she heard someone or something rustle against what sounded like grass. She spun around to see where the sound had come, the darkness pushing against her eyes with a pressure that really wasn't there.  
A loud gasp escaped her as something gently touched her shoulder and without thinking she leapt out of reach, but a splash soon followed and water encircled her body as somebody called her name.  
Panicking, Jenny kicked to the surface, now flouting with her head just above the water. Gasping for air she felt around her, trying to find the platform again.  
Something fluently slid across her leg beneath the water with a slimy texture. Jenny's mind automatically produced the haunting image of P.C. bursting out of the water in the carnival and she hastily kicked away, smothering a scream that desperately urged to come out.  
Unconsciousness tugged violently at the corners of her mind as she heard something splash through the water nearby.  
Jenny stared at where the sound was, but still couldn't see anything but a large mass of black.  
An amplified scream did manage to escape her as the same slimy object wrapped itself around her leg with a firm grip.  
"Help!" She yelled out of instinct, to who she didn't know. Jenny didn't even expect a rescue, to die just like the figure on the computer screen with a desperate hand in the air, though a rescue did come from someone she least expected.  
A razor sharp pain went to her leg, but then the thing released her and she was being dragged up onto solid ground by a strong pair of hands.  
She heard a voice above her, saying something, but she couldn't tell what he was saying. The only thing she could comprehend is that she probably couldn't stay conscious for much longer. No more than she thought that, her head filled with black, suffocating her mind as unconsciousness took her.  
  
AN: ok, i know that was a little weird, but you'll understand in later chapters, just pleeez review. E!  
  
there is no "i" in team, but there is in llama : D 


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter #4  
  
Jenny's mind comes back to focus as her eyelids flutter open. The world around her seemed like a meshed array of colours until her eyes fall onto the face of a person above her.  
She gasps and sits up too quickly, falling down again. "Julian?" She breathed, barely above a whisper.  
He didn't answer, but merely stared at her behind hooded eyes, a look of desperate despair there. Golden sunlight teased his sculpted face as he sat there.  
She stared into the face that haunted her dreams for months, usually charming or sly, but now blank and emotionless.  
Jenny ripped her eyes away and saw a collosile pool with a small platform with a diving board on the side.  
He stood up and Jenny's mind snaps back to him. "What's going on?" His eyelids drooped as he reluctantly looked away.  
Tears of frustration rose to her eyes as she reapetes herself as he turns his back to her, the black leather conforming to his body.  
Jenny started to get up, "Julian, please..." but was cut off when she rose, for an excruciating pain ran to her leg as it buckled and collasped under her.  
As she fell to the ground with a small shreik of pain, Julian's shoulders haunched and he departed.  
"Please..." She murmured, though not to recieve any responce. Jenny hastily attempted to get up, but her brittled, battered leg wouldn't support her well enough for much abuse.  
As soon as her feet were steady under her, Julian had already dissappeared from view and the sun had fully risen.  
She spun around, desperately searching for any trace of him.  
A small door stood open nearby going into what looked like a house.  
"O god, why am I here?" She breathed as she took an uncertain step towards the opening. As her foot touched the ground a fiery pain shot adruptly towards her leg as she let out a shudder breath in agony. She really didn't look at it before for she was too concerned with Julian, but now, as she stared in horror, she saw a large gash streaching down her calf.  
Her leg buckled warningly underneath her, but at that same moment a sharp cry pierced the air, though not of her own.  
"What?" Jenny glared around to find the source. What a desperate, agonizing wail of tremendous pain this was.  
Forgetting about the excrutiating pain she set off, audaciously wobbling towards the sound.  
As soon as Jenny passed the threshold of a quant home, a repulsing sceen met her eyes.  
At the kitchen sink stood Julian with a wrench in hand, screaming in a despairing tone while wave after elecric wave was internally massacring his body.  
"Julian!" She lept foward, but much too late for his distressed form diminished to the floor.  
She knelt down, reaching for his corps, ignoring the fresh wave of aching pain that went soaring to her.  
"No...no." Was merely all she could muster to get out as a ripple of tears came to her.  
She sobbed for only seconds before everything went entirely black. Everything was deadly quitet except the deep pounding of throbbing blood in Jenny's ears.  
She let out a petit whimper as he geld Julian's mangled body close, the darkness engulfing them both.  
She felt the form beneath her shudder and she looked down. Though she still couldn't see the faintest thing, she could hear a voice talking below her.  
"Jenny?"A voice of pure musicality spoke up to her.  
As soon as the sound of his voice reached her ears, tears welled up in her eyes.  
Before either of them could go on, brilliant lamps flickered on aroun them, flooding the room with light and Jenny found herself staring into the luminouse eyes of the man she tried so hard to forget.  
He reached to stroke a conforting hand across ehr face and Jenny bowed her head and pulled away as unwanted, agonizing memories came back to her.  
He sat up and took her by the shoulders gently, but with a sure urgent tone. "Jenny, you've got to get out of here, I don't know what they want with you..." he trailed off in a desperate tone.  
"Who?" She implied, but soon found she didn't want to know.  
"The Shadow Men. They've been controling me to do whatever they want ever since I sacrificed myself for you."  
"That Sims game." Jenny breathed, the unevitable truth dawning upon her.  
"What...?" He started confused, but stopped adbuptly. Looking over Jenny's shoulder, his muscles tense as he groaned.  
Jenny whirled around and saw a form. A dark figure, but with bright, luminous eyes like fresh dew stained grass staring hungrily into her own.  
A blanket of fear encircled her as he opened his mouth to speak and words like fluid liquid ran from his mouth. "Five months to the day a prey was snatched from our wrath for in her place who came in, but a fellow hunter. We aknowledge the rules and play thus fair, but still the bargain stands unfufilled."  
Silence filled the small kitchen and Julian stood valiently. "What do you mean?" He voiced, deadly quiet and full of forboding.  
"It means, my friend," he spoke this of pure venom to Julian. "that she's ours."  
"I don't believe that you aknowledging the mere fact that I went in her place!" Julian said this all in a cresciendo of rage. "Let her go, I'm the one who went in her place, damn it!  
The figure remained in the blanket of shadows, "If she gets through the game, she can..."  
  
AN: THANK YOU!!!! i have reviews! EEEEE! the llamas thank you greatly and buddha will give you great blessings...ok. Now review and skittlez will fall from the sky...spacing out............  
  
Walks With Starz 


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